Kottimukula Alagaraja Singaparaja Raja, known as K.A.S. Raja, was an Indian military officer.
K.A.S. Raja was born to a politically prominent family from Madras, India. He was a nephew of P. S. Kumaraswamy Raja, who served as the Chief Minister of Madras Presidency and Governor of Orissa. [1]
On the 17th June 1940 Raja enlisted in the ranks of the 11th (Madras) battalion, Indian Territorial Force then on the 28th July 1940 was granted a viceroy's commission in the rank of Jemadar in the same unit. [2] The battalion was converted to a regular battalion of the British Indian Army on 15th September, 1941 titled the 1st Battalion, 3rd Madras Regiment. [3] On the 21st December 1941 Raja received an emergency commission as a second lieutenant in the 3rd Madras Regiment in the British Indian Army. [4]
Raja fought in the Burma campaign and qualified as a paratrooper, choosing to wear a parachutist badge throughout the rest of his career. Following the end of the war, he studied at a military staff college in India. [1] In 1946 he was granted a regular Indian Army commission. [5] Following India's independence in 1947, he was made commander of a battalion in the Indian Army. [1] He commanded the 1st Battalion of the Madras Regiment with the rank of lieutenant colonel during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947–1948. [6]
In the spring of 1961 Raja led a 4,500 strong contingent, [1] the Indian Independent Brigade Group, to the Republic of the Congo to serve as a peacekeeping force in the United Nations Operation in the Congo (ONUC). [7] On 5 August 1961 ONUC created an independent Katanga Command under Raja headquartered in Élisabethville. [8] On 28 August he led ONUC forces in conducting Operation Rum Punch, and action to detain and deport mercenaries and foreign military personnel serving in the Katangese Gendarmerie. [9] He returned to India with his brigade in April 1962. [10]
In the 2016 film The Siege of Jadotville , based on the events of the Siege of Jadotville and concurrent Operation Morthor in September 1961, Raja's role is portrayed by the character General Raja. [11]
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